


I Can Fix That

by zemenipearls (ayaanle)



Category: Holes - Louis Sachar, Nikolai Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Western, Canon Character of Color, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 02:14:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22008286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayaanle/pseuds/zemenipearls
Summary: Arkansas, 1875.Adrik is the schoolteacher, disabled as a teen fighting for the Union in the Civil War. Leoni, emancipated in '61, is a gifted tradeswoman who exchanges her onions for his peaches. Despite their differences, they can't help their feelings for each other as Leoni helps him fix his schoolhouse.Inspired by a post on tumblr by Kayla @what-is-infinite.Thank you to @what-is-infinite and @meherya for being betas.
Relationships: Leoni Hilli/Adrik Zhabin
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	I Can Fix That

Adrik held tightly onto his jar of peaches. As much as he didn't want to admit it, it was his favorite day of the week. He had a lot of people who loved his peaches. For their jams, their desserts, or just as a treat on a summer day. But his favorite customer was Leoni Hilli. 

Leoni Hilli grew onions. She knew how to fry them, bake them, fry them up, and she always saved a bag for Adrik. She walked through town in her pretty dresses, curly hair pinned back elegantly. She had her mule, her carts and touted the wonders of the onion to anyone who could listen.

He was sitting up pin straight when she knocked on the small schoolhouse door. 

Pretty as a flower, the sun back lit her when he opened it. 

"Mr. Zhabin," she said with a smile he matched.

"Miss Hilli." He gave a short bow. 

Leoni had to work to hide her own smile. Adrik the schoolteacher was an unlikely man. He lost his arm in the War, but unlike most townsfolk, it was for the North. He couldn't stop segregation but he could teach both black kids and white kids, and he didn't even have a separate colored entrance. 

She used her free hand to flatten the front of her butter yellow dress. "I brought your onion order. Red onions, white onions. I even brought this funny looking one you might like."

"Because I'm funny looking?" He joked. Which was surprising, because Adrik didn't joke. But Leoni didn't laugh, just clucked. 

"You got my peaches?"

"Sure thing miss." He put the jar on a student desk and it shifted on uneven legs. Adrik used money from peach sales to fund his classroom supplies for the black kids (the city provided supplies for the others), but some things were neglected in favor of books and chalk boards. Like wobbly desks and bad windows.

Leoni reached and moved it a bit, before kneeling down to get a closer look. "You got some loose parts here."

"I got loose parts all over the place," Adrik grumbled. "You know how it is."

"That's a shame." Then she looked at him with big brown eyes and a smile that took his breath away. "I can fix that."

She went out to her cart and returned with a tool kit. Adrik's eyebrows raised. "I can't ask a lady to do that," he protested. But she had already sat on the floor and began tinkering with the underside of the desk. 

"My daddy didn't want me to rely on anyone, not when we got our freedom," she said. "We were lucky we could read and write, and secured the deed to land. Most of the race aren't so lucky."

Adrik had never asked Leoni, but he knew logically, that maybe she had been enslaved. But she was so cheerful and self supportive, nothing like he imagined. She deserved to be treated like a lady. 

"How did you end up down here in Arkansas Mr. Zhabin?"

"My parents are immigrants, I lived in New York. The war effort seemed important and I joined the Union. This is just where I ended up when it ended." He had been a child when he enlisted at 15, and fought for two years. It seemed like such a long time ago, and that it also happened yesterday. "10 years later, here I am."

"I'm glad you're here," she said, and scoot forward from under the desk. "There you are. Good as new." 

He helped her up with his good hand and she brushed the front of her dress, smiling up at him. "You let me know anything I can do to help. I'm good with my hands."

Leoni meant it. Adrik Zhabin was the only one in the white side of town that truly treated her like an equal. No suspicion. No giggles. Women tended to clutch their purses and men when she walked by, or keep their children from getting too close. Men leered, both disgusted and curious. Adrik was simply wonderful. 

Adrik gave her a small smile. "Well. The windows don’t open, the children would like a breeze every once in a while,” he said, sidling up to the door. 

Leoni considered the closest window, testing it. "I can fix that." Her smile was so bright it caused an ache deep in Adrik's chest. 

Adrik made sure his clothes were pressed when Leoni came by the next day with more tools. They talked while sunlight came into the room and she worked. He learned her favorite book was the Three Musketeers by Dumas. 

A great southern heat storm rolled through Arkansas and Leoni came by to fix the roof. He worried nonstop while she was up there but Leoni laughed him off. "I like being up here. I like the view," she said while looking at him. 

She had a feeling the pink blush creeping on his freckled face had little to do with the sun and everything to do with whatever was building between them. No matter how uncommon it was. 

When she climbed down he caught her in his arm, strong and sure. She knew she should be offended at the way their bodies were flush together. But Leoni couldn't be. His pale green eyes looked deep into hers before he hesitantly let her go.

"Thank you," he whispered. "The students will appreciate it." He reached down to her hand, raising it to place a kiss on her knuckles. "And I appreciate it."

"Of course. And thank you for the peaches." She gave a shy smile. "I made a cobbler with them. I can bring it by sometime."

"You're doing too much for me," Adrik said. "I don't want to take advantage of you."

"That's very kind of you. But between friends. I would like to share a cobbler with you."

Adrik didn't have a lot of money. But over the next several days he walked around thinking about Leoni and everything he wished he could give her. He was looking at ribbons, like the pretty ones she wore in her hair, when the sheriff's daughter approached him.

"Mr. Zhabin that's a mighty fine ribbon. For your intended?"

"You know I don't have an intended Miss Wells." He tried to hide his discomfort. Young, healthy men were a commodity in the South he knew. Especially white men. A rich man's war had been paid for with the lives of poor men, and although a schoolteacher was an unusual job, it was respectable. 

"Then who is it for?"

"My sister," he lied. Even though the shade of yellow would look terrible on Nadia, who was living out in San Francisco. But it would look beautiful on deep dark brown skin. He purchased it, trying to avoid Miss Wells as much as possible. "Have a good day miss." He gave a curt bow.

Leoni had given him directions to her home. Even though the school was barely on the border of the segregated town, it was still a couple miles out to her farm. Adrik saddled up his horse, making sure his prosthetic was secure. 

It wasn't fancy, but it got the job done and filled out the shirt sleeves. Thousands of soldiers had lost limbs, he was nothing remarkable. 

When he approached the house he slowed his horse down, tying her to the post out where Leoni's mule was, giving them both a bucket of water. 

He knocked on the door, and Leoni answered.

Dressed in a soft white shirt and blue skirt, she was a vision. The soft candlelight illuminated her curly hair, which was out of its normal pins. The tiny corkscrew strands looked like a halo. 

Leoni eagerly let him in, worried what he would think about her home. It was modest and held together by the work her and her dad put into it, before his knees and back went out on him. The furniture was handmade, since emancipation. 

"Come in, please. Dinner is almost ready."

Her father hobbled over with his cane. He was young still, but a hard life left its mark. "You're the schoolteacher all the kids talk about right? Zhabin?" Adrik gave his hand a firm shake. 

"Yessir," he replied. "Nice to meet you Mr. Hilli."

The man nodded towards his arm. "The war?"

Adrik looked down, but before he could say anything Leoni spoke up. "He fought for the North, Pa. He's from New York."

The man grunted approvingly and tapped his cane on the prosthetic. "Good man. I hope you like sweet potatoes."

Leoni smiled to herself. Her mom came out from her room next. The house had one room, and a section of the family room sectioned out for herself, and a small kitchen sectioned off with the pantry. 

Her mom was Leoni's twin, with graying hair and wrinkles etched into her glowing skin. "You're the peaches man?" She asked. Adrik nodded. "I thought you would be a man of the race," she continued, giving Leoni a look.

Leoni simply smiled in return, bringing the food over. Chicken and mashed sweet potatoes with green beans. A simple meal but a hearty one. "Enjoy."

"Is there anything you can't do Miss Hilli?" Adrik asked. 

"No," her father said gruffly. "That's my girl. She can run a home and farm on her own if need be. Only thing she can't do is own land, technically. But we're working on that." 

Adrik hadn't been around a family in a long time. Not in a setting as intimate as dinner. Most of the time was spent eating peaches and dried meat in the small shack where he lived, and getting ready for the next school day. This was company and conversation. 

He couldn't stop looking at Leoni. Better educated than most women of her station, and clearly devoted to helping her parents. She deserved help, someone that could contribute to her life. Could treat her well and let her rest. 

Adrik realized he wanted to be that man.

Leoni enjoyed cleaning up the dinner with Adrik as the cobbler heated up on the stove. There was an intimacy in doing a household chore with a man, seeing the way he moved in the house she lived in. It was better than peaches. 

"I brought a gift for you," he said. "A thank you for making the nicest schoolhouse in all of Arkansas."

Leoni's mouth fell when he pulled out the ribbon. It was a small gesture. But it was her favorite color, and it was so pretty, and made of real silk. She immediately used it to tie back her hair. "Mr. Zhabin. Thank you. It's quite beautiful."

She smiles the entire time after he left, helping clean and get the house ready for the night, and heating water for her parents to bathe. 

"Be careful sweetheart," her dad said. 

"Of what?"

"I see the way you two look at each other. The way he cares for you. But the world ain't ready."

"I know."

"Do me a favor?"

Leoni nodded.

"Carry your gun with you."

* * * * *

With summer waning, the cold came on. Thanks to Leoni's work, the schoolhouse was well insulated, but aches started in Adrik's shoulder and the phantom limb of his lost arm. Leoni still came around, helping with his classes and bringing him goods from the garden.

"You're sore," she stated matter-of-factly one night when the kids had left. She had been reading Dumas by candlelight while he cleaned all the boards. "How long has your arm been hurting?"

"A few days," he said. "Nothing I'm not used to. Happens when the weather changes." It would have been worse in New York, with its icy weather. 

Leoni put down her book and rummaged through her bag, pulling out a small bottle. "I can fix that. This will help. Putting it on your shoulder and stump will take away some of the pain and itching." Nobody should have to be in pain, and Leoni could see the discomfort etched in his face.

She bit her lip before blurting out what an unmarried woman alone with an unmarried man really shouldn't. "I can apply it, if you like. I know it must be difficult for you."

Adrik was silent. The thought of her hands on his skin was almost too much. "Please," he whispered. 

He held his breath as she approached, putting some of the liquid on her hands while he undid his shirt, leaving him exposed in his undershirt. He then took off his prosthetic. He felt indecent. But she stood to his side and touched him gently. 

Adrik closed his eyes as Leoni sank her fingers in more, massaging his shoulder first and working her way down to the scarred stump of his arm. Or what remained of it. A blast from a Confederate bullet mangled it, and the only memory he had was searing pain, and biting down on leather in a tent before blacking out.

But her hands worked into his skin, reaching under the edge of his shirt, and he let himself feel good. Maybe he just wanted it to work, but he already felt better. It was over far too soon, and she rubbed the remainder into her own arms. It smelled like lavender. 

He stood up and rotated the joint, pleased with the result. "It seems I'll be forever in your debt, Leoni." It felt strange, familiar to say her name. But it felt right. "And I'd gladly spend my whole life making up for it."

"I don't need much," Leoni replied, looking up at him. "But I do want."

"I can fix that," Adrik whispered. He cupped her face and lightly brushed a thumb over her cheekbone. She put a hand over his and cradled into it, placing a kiss on his palm. "May I kiss you Leoni Hilli?" He asked.

"Yes Adrik Zhabin."

Her heart slammed against her chest as he moved his hand to her chin, tilting it so he could place his lips on hers. Her body melted at how gentle, how sweet he was. He deepened it slowly and she put her own arms around his shoulders. She relished the feel of his tongue on her bottom lip, tracing the fullness. 

Leoni let out a sigh that sang fire to Adrik's blood and he caught it from her mouth. This was the kiss he wanted, the moment he dreamed about. He moved his arm around her waist.

When they finally parted they both knew they were in love. Neither were sure how it happened or what was to come - but they were determined to try. 

Adrik escorted her home that night. It didn't seem right to send her off alone into the dark. Even under moonlight she was the prettiest thing he ever saw, satin yellow ribbon braided into her hair. Maybe they could find sanctuary up North or out West. 

When they parted, she reached up to touch his hand, and he placed a kiss on her knuckles. "I'll see you tomorrow Miss Leoni."

"You better," she teased. To her, his freckles dusted his nose like the stars in the sky. 

Leoni found it impossible to sleep, not when she kept replaying their kiss, his soft touches, the way he tasted of peaches. She wasn't dumb- she knew they had a hard road ahead of them. But she heard good things about Chicago. Many black folks were moving up there. They just needed to make sure her parents were secure. She knew they didn't have many years left. Slavery left its mark on their bodies in many ways.

As she began to drift off she noticed an acrid smell. Smoke.

Leoni immediately sprang into action, instinctively grabbing the shotgun she kept by her bed and looking around. It was coming from outside and working its way to the side of her house. "Ma! Pa!" She shouted. 

She spent no time thinking, grabbing her bag and running to her parents room, already filling with smoke. Her mother had stumbled awake but her father was unconscious, so Leoni started dragging him out. "Get out Ma, call the fire brigade."

Leoni covered her mouth and summoned the strength to pull her 200 lb dad out of the room and down the hallway, the smoke clawing at her throat. The fire was consuming their room and spreading to the living room. Sweat dripped down her face, dampening her night shift. "You are not going out on me," she grumbled, even as the support beams began to crack.

Suddenly someone was by her side. Adrik was next to her and helped drag her father out too, much faster. He shouldered her bag for her and the two of them were able to move him beyond the threshold as the first portion of the roof came crashing down.

Outside, and a safe distance, Leoni could see the terrible sight. Her family's house and farm had been set ablaze. Standing on the dirt road, holding a torch, was the Sheriff himself and two deputies. Her neighbors were holding her sobbing mother, and Leoni knew the awful truth. The fire brigade would not come.

"Leoni, I'm so sorry," Adrik begged. He didn't understand the hatred. How they could do such a thing. Why the Hillis had to suffer.

The Sheriff trotted forward on his horse, spitting at Adrik. "Its a shame what happened here. Maybe don't go consorting with negroes, Zhabin. You're better than that." Then he looked at Leoni. "Know your place, bed wench."

Leoni was frozen. She was embarrassed. Her work, everything they had since emancipation was burning behind her and making nighttime look like day.

A gunshot rang. And another, and a third. 

Adrik's face was pale, shadows dancing from the flames, as he held the gun from Leoni's bag. There were three bodies, blood mixing with dirt. His breathing was ragged but Adrik couldn't find any regret at all, frozen in spot.

Leoni turned to the black residents. "Did y'all see anything?"

"Nothing Miss Leoni," an elderly wheat farmer responded.

"Strip the bodies, throw them in the fire. Let it be said the Hilli family died this night," she continued. Adrik looked at her, his eyes wet.

"I can't stay here," he breathed. "Will you come with me?"

"You asking me to be an outlaw with you?"

"It won't be easy," he said, holding her hand. "But I promise I will never let anyone harm you. We deserve time like anyone else. I'll spend every day loving you as a man should."

Leoni looked at her parents, dropping his hand and walking over to them. "Baby girl, you can't waste your years on us," her mom said. "You deserve to see the world." Leoni hugged her tight. "You better write me."

Adrik held his breath as she came back to him. "Ask me again Adrik."

He got down on his knee. "Leoni will you marry me?"

"Yes."

*****

They were up until the early hours of the morning disposing of the bodies and creating a story around the disappearance. Adrik refused to leave Leoni's side except when they bathed at her neighbor's home. She spent time saying goodbye to her parents, and gathering supplies her community gave her. Adrik couldn't believe how generous they were. They gave them food, money, and water flasks. They gave Leoni new clothes. 

"That was brave of you back there. Take care of my girl," her father said. "Where y'all going?"

"Don't know yet. I'm thinking North, then West. I promise I'll cherish and protect her."

They mounted horses. Despite the trauma, Leoni sat proud, as beautiful as ever. The future was uncertain, but if she was in it, his future would at least be bright. "I can't fix society," Adrik said. "But I damn sure will fight it."


End file.
